Huddersfield Town has unveiled major plans to invest up to £20m to bring its PPG Canalside training complex "to the highest of Premier League standards".

The new plans, due to be completed in time for the 2020/21 pre-season, will create a "new level of elite sports environment" for Town’s First Team and Academy, according to Huddersfield Town.

A new showpiece pitch will be created during the first stage of the work, which is being managed by Preston-based Frank Whittle Partnership Group, on newly-acquired land to the north east of the Leeds Road site.

Like the pitch at the John Smith's Stadium, the new pitch will be a hybrid Desso GrassMaster surface, complete with undersoil heating, high-spec floodlights, and a covered stand for supporters.

The second stage will see the creation of a new First Team building that includes state-of-the-art facilities for the players, including a hydrotherapy suite, new changing rooms and gymnasiums, medical treatment areas, analysis theatre, a new media suite and office and dining spaces for staff.

The building will feature a 'corner-point' that will be loosely based on a modern interpretation of the Victoria Tower on Castle Hill.

The club revealed provisional details of the plans at a public exhibition at PPG Canalside on Monday evening.

Fans are now invited to give their feedback before the scheme is submitted to Kirklees Council. Work is expected to be completed in stages.

The plans will mean that bowling and other public facilities at PPG Canalside will be moved elsewhere.

The club is currently working on a proposal to improve facilities at the nearby Leeds Road Sports Complex so that the current bowling club at Canalside can move. Plans will be revealed shortly.

And the popular PPG Canalside Fanzone will also close and could be based elsewhere, although nothing has been finalised.

Huddersfield Town’s Chief Executive Julian Winter said: "We’re delighted that, after some very hard work from several parties, we’ve reached the stage to be able to reveal our provisional plans for PPG Canalside to our supporters.

Huddersfield Town chief executive Julian Winter at PPG Canalside

"It’s been fantastic to see the response to the initial announcement and to hear directly from fans in the early stages of our consultation process. It’s clear that they all understand how important these plans are to the long-term, sustainable success of their football club."

He added: "This represents a very significant investment from the Chairman and the football club in turning PPG Canalside into an elite sports environment. We’re a Club that prides itself on developing players and this stage-of-the-art training complex will be a huge asset to the technical staff in that goal."

Mr Winter said the club remained committed to providing great facilities for fans.

"We’re also a club that prides itself on being at the heart of its community, and we’re equally committed to continuing to provide great facilities for the fans and wider people of Kirklees to use.

Artist's impression of the first team changing room at the proposed new PPG Canalside training facility

"As such, we’re planning to switch the existing public-facing element of PPG Canalside to brand new, dedicated facilities that we are funding and planning alongside Kirklees Council and Kirklees Active Leisure at a new-look Leeds Road Sports Complex, which I hope we can share in the near-term."

Fans who attended Monday's public exhibition gave the Examiner their views on the proposals.

Peter Briggs, of Deighton, who is a Town fan and a member of the bowling club, said: "If it comes off, they will be building us something down at the the playing fields which would be ideal."

He said the new training facility "looks fabulous" although he said it would be "strange" when bowlers and others moved elsewhere.

"If it encourages better football players to come and keeps us in the Premiership I won't grumble."

Town fan David Wood who has welcomed plans to improve PPG Canalside (Image: Andrew Robinson)

David Wood, a former secretary of the Huddersfield Town Supporters Club, said: "It looks very impressive indeed. I suppose the thinking is to bring Huddersfield Town up to and maybe above the current facilities at Premier League clubs."